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When an Initial Villain and Legendary Figures are Victims of Power Creep but the Narrative Wants You to Believe Otherwise

Power Creep: This is when the constant increase in power of the main characters leaves supporting characters (such as a villain of the week who was supposedly one of the leaders of a supernatural organization or deceased legendary figures who were the kings of their own race) as inferior to the main characters.

This is usually not a problem most of the time….. except when the narrative wants you to believe that the main characters are still inferior to the villain of the week and the legendary figures.

THE WEAKEST OF THE CADRES
April 20, 2009, Highschool DxD Volume 3 is released and with that we meet the Fallen Angel Kokabiel, a Cadre (Leaders of the Fallen Angels), his first and last appearance.

The only time we get to see Kokabiel's power is this one:

“Blow awaaaaaaaaay!”

From Buchou's hand, the highest amount of the block of demonic power was shot out covered in the power of destruction!

GOOOOOOOOON!

It made a shock wave that felt like it shook the ground, and the powerful shot was heading towards Kokabiel. With his hand…… No, with both his hands put in front of him, he tried to deflect it.

“Interesting! Interesting indeed, Maou’s sister!”

On Kokabiel’s hand, the energy of the fallen angels, the power of light gathered.

DOOOOOOOOOOOON!

Kokabiel took Buchou’s shot head on. His expression surpassed that of a normal one and looked dreadful.

“Nuuuuuuuuuun!”

Buchou’s shot started to get pushed back, and started to lose its shape! He couldn’t be defeated even with that amount of demonic-power!? But Kokabiel also wasn’t uninjured. His black robe was tattered in places, and his hands were bloody. But his ability to block demonic power certainly decreased.

This is Kokabiel Vs Rias powered up with 19 Boost (the main ability of the protagonist that makes him stronger with more Boost)

This scene has been interpreted in 2 ways:

The currently accepted interpretation is that Kokabiel is stronger than Rias 19 Boost, more specifically that Rias needs another 3 Boosts to match Kokabiel. That would result in:

Kokabiel = Rias 22 Boost

The other interpretation placed Rias 19 Boost and Kokabiel as equivalent, making it like this:

Kokabiel = Rias 19 Boost

Where does Power Creep come into play?
Well, if you look at the power scale of the later volumes you realize that Kokabiel was outclassed at one point.

First let's talk about Rias Base's power, there are 2 interpretations,

the maximum

Rias Base = Issei BxB Incomplete

the minimum.

Rias Base = Issei 12 Boost.

Now let's make a power scale with both.

Using the minimum we have this.

Issei can use 18 Boost, so:.

Issei 18 Boost = Rias 6 Boost.

Incomplete BxB is stronger than Issei 18 Boost, which gives us.
Issei BxB Incomplete: > Rias 6 Boost.

BxB Complete is superior to incomplete.
Issei BxB: >> Rias 6 Boost.

Issei BxB can use 14 Boost, so we have this.
Issei BxB with 14 Boost: >> Rias 20 Boost.

Welsh Dragonic Rook is a x6.
Issei Welsh Dragonic Rook: >> 6 Rias 6 Boost.
Issei Welsh Dragonic Rook with 14 Boost: >> 6 Rias 20 Boost.

Sairaorg BxB One-Shot Issei Welsh Dragonic Rook with 14 Boost, then.
Sairaorg BxB: 》>> 6 Rias 20 Boost.

Issei CxC is comparable to Sairaorg BxB, then.
Issei CxC: 》>> 6 Rias 20 Boost.

CxC can use the Welsh Dragonic Rook form under the name Solid Impact Booster.
Solid Impact Booster: 》>> 12 Rias 20 Boost.
Issei CxC with 14 Boost: 》>> 6 Rias 34 Boost.
Solid Impact Booster with 14 Boost: 》>> 12 Rias 34 Boost.

using the maximum we have this.

Rias Base = Issei BxB Incomplete.
Issei BxB: >Rias Base.
Issei BxB with 14 Boost: >Rias 14 Boost.
Issei Welsh Dragonic Rook: > 6 Rias Base.
Issei Welsh Dragonic Rook with 14 Boost: >6 Rias 14 Boost.

Sairaorg BxB One-Shot Issei Welsh Dragonic Rook with 14 Boost, then.
Sairaorg BxB: 》>6 Rias 14 Boost.
Issei CxC is comparable to Sairaorg BxB, then.
Issei CxC: 》>6 Rias 14 Boost.
Solid Impact Booster: 》>12 Rias 14 Boost.
Issei CxC with 14 Boost: 》>6 Rias 28 Boost.
Solid Impact Booster with 14 Boost: 》>12 Rias 28 Boost.

As you can see I didn't use any energy value, I didn't even use the Boost multiplier and I just left it mentioned. But the result is clear that Issei CxC's FullPower surpassed Kokabiel.

Then, everything changed when the Narrative attacked.
To understand where the problem is, you have to know something. Who scales to Issei CxC's FullPower?

The first is Grendel, a character that Issei CxC needs to use Solid Impact Booster with 14 Boost to confront.

Grendel is a Dragon and like all dragons he has Magic Resistance, but in his case his Magic Resistance has been improved.

Now we have Rossweisse, a character whose main form of attack is magic and who is shown to be capable of inflicting damage (albeit minimal) to Grendel.

And finally the cause of the Problems, Mirana, a character that we see is capable of annihilating Rossweisse's magic, the problem? at the same time the narrative tells us that Mirana is inferior to the Cadres

In order to support those two, Rossweisse-san fired off large bursts of offensive magic. Mirana-san created an extremely large spear of light (its power was almost on the same level as a Fallen Angel Cadre) to easily obliterate her spells.

Facepalm, this is ridiculous, it's dumb, that statement doesn't make any sense no matter how you look at it, since simple analysis and logic make it clear that Kokabiel's power was surpassed long ago.

We also have Armaros (another Cadre) scaling to Rossweisse

Sandalfon Armaros' rival who also scales and with him all the Seraph

Azazel (another Cadre) being able to damage Grendel and also scaling

Barakiel (another Cadre) as the strongest of the Cadre and therefore also scaling

In the end it all ends with Kokabiel as the weakest of the Cadres

Here two things come into conflict, the scale of power supported by evidence throughout several volumes versus a simple statement of the narrative.

THOSE WHO SURPASS THE DEMON KING
March 20, 2010, Highschool DxD Volume 6 is released, and we meet Shalba Beelzebub, but the one who appears is not the normal Shalba, this Shalba has the Ophis's Snake, an amplifying artifact that enhances his power

and then we have this
“Y-You Monster! A-Are you telling me this is the ‘Juggernaut-Drive'!? This is no joke! M-My power should have been raised to that of the former-Maou due to Ophis' power! He has surpassed the Boosted Gear's specs recorded in the data!”

Shalba claims that his power should be at the level of the Old Maou.

i.e.

Shalba Ophis’s Snake = Old Maou

We later discover that the Ophis's Snake provides power comparable to that of the King's Piece, another amplifying artifact that boosts power by a factor of at least 10.

That would give us

Shalba Ophis's Snake = 10 Shalba

But what is the equivalent of the Shalba Base? It is equivalent to the power of Issei CxC, which gives us.

Issei CxC = Shalba

Now let's scale this.

Solid Impact Booster = 6 Shalba.
Issei CxC with 14 Boost = Shalba 14 Boost.
Solid Impact Booster with 14 Boost = 6 Shalba 14 Boost.

The difference between 6 Shalba and 10 Shalba is 67%.

Now someone is going to tell me that Shalba 14 Boost or 6 Shalba 14 Boost aren't at least 67% stronger than 6 Shalba when Boost is an ability that allows its user to boost their power with each use, increasing their power exponentially.

I think the result of that is obvious, Issei CxC's FullPower surpassed the Old Maou

The problem?

Everyone who scales to Issei CxC's FullPower surpasses the Old Maou

It all starts with Grendel

- in volume 16 Issei becomes able to fight Grendel without needing Solid Impact Booster or Boost and thus be above the Old Maou, but it's not until 10 volumes later (and another power boost) that we are clearly told that Issei CxC is Maou Class

- Azazel, Rossweise, Mirana, Armaros, Sandalfon and the Seraph also surpass the Old Maou.

This ends up creating ANOTHER plot hole in the Great War of the 3 Factions, in which supposedly the Cadre, Seraph(+ God) and Maou faced each other.

Once again here 2 things come into conflict, the power scale supported by the evidence throughout several volumes versus the narrative.

I don't know about you, but I prefer to believe what I see happening in novels and the evidence they give us than a narrative full of holes.

But feel free to say what you think.

P.S.

Since I'm only interested in knowing what others think, I'm not going to comment on this thread, so talk amongst yourselves.
 
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Totally understand how that feels. Ultra Series has a very similar case.

TLDR

Alien Empera, basically one of the strongest antagonist of the Heisei Era and one of the few universal characters in the series at the time used to require fusions of ultras to defeat.

10,000 years later it’s shown that the ultras no longer need fusion to fight enemies on his level. In fact their Base form going by scaling is shown to be around half as strong as he is.

After that another era has passed and going by multipliers and scaling they are more than thousands of times stronger than Alien Empera. But one of the director of the series made a statement saying Alien Empera is equal to Juda Spectre the new antagonist at the time whom by scaling is thousands of times stronger than Alien Empera…

Like here’s a portion of the scaling with only the characters relevant to the scaling for those that are interested in seeing just how far behind Empera is in comparison to Juda whom he’s compared to

One > means stronger
Two > means far stronger/stomps
Three > means one shots/no sells

Juda Spectre > Super Grand King Spectre >>> Ginga Victory > Giant Yapool > Etelgar > Vict Lugiel >> Hyper Zetton Imago = Saga >> Future Mode Cosmos 3x> Eclipse Mode Cosmos 20x> Corona Mode Cosmos 3x> Luna Mode Cosmos = Post-Belial Galactic Empire Base Zero 4x> Pre-Belial Galactic Empire Base Zero >> Mecha Gomora = Reimon’s EX Gomora 3x> Reimon’s Base Gomora >> Rei’s Reionic Burst Gomora >> Armored Mefilas = Armored Darkness = Alien Empera

Oh right and did I mention how multiple of the characters that are scaling wise stronger than Empera in this scaling chain were also stated to be the strongest antagonist/character at the time of their appearance? Not to mention Alien Empera has been dead for more than ten thousand years which makes it impossible for him to grow stronger. So yeah we just ignored that one statement as it clearly contradicts what’s previously shown and stated in series.
 
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